The Rockies announced a few coaching decisions this week. Third base coach Andy Gonzalez and assistant hitting coach Jordan Pacheco will return in their prior roles. Ron Gideon, who previously served as first base and outfield coach, transitions to a newly-created role of assistant bench coach.
The decisions provide a small amount of continuity for a club that has otherwise overhauled quite a bit. The Rockies have been losing a lot in recent years, which prompted them to fire manager Bud Black in May. He was replaced by third base coach Warren Schaeffer on an interim basis. Gonzalez then moved from his assistant hitting coach role to Schaeffer’s previous gig as third base coach. Pacheco began the season as hitting coach for Triple-A Albuquerque but was brought up to the big league squad as an assistant hitting coach at that time.
Once the season was over, the club parted ways with general manager Bill Schmidt. With the vacuum of the top of the front office, everything else was on hold. The new front office leader would eventually have some say in whether or not Schaeffer would be back. The coaching decisions would also have to wait until there was clarity on the front office and managerial situations.
In early November, Paul DePodesta was hired as Colorado’s new front office leader, with the title of president of baseball operations. Later that month, the club announced that Schaeffer would indeed continue as skipper.
In the past two-plus weeks, Schaeffer has been filling out his staff with new faces. Alon Leichman will be the pitching coach, Gabe Ribas assistant pitching coach, Matt Buschmann bullpen coach, Brett Pill hitting coach and Jeff Pickler bench coach.
This week’s hirings mean that at least a few familiar faces are returning. However, as mentioned, Gonzalez and Pacheco both got their current titles in May as part of the shake-up when Black was fired. With Gideon now changing roles, it means each job has been rolled over in some way in the past eight months.
Gonzalez has been with the Rockies for 11 seasons, spending much of that time in the minors. He became assistant hitting coach with the big league club in the 2022 season. As mentioned, he changed roles before completing his fourth campaign with that title. He played in the majors from 2007 to 2009, with the White Sox, Cleveland and the Marlins.
Pacheco played in the majors from 2011 to 2016, spending a lot of that time with the Rockies, plus stints with the Diamondbacks and Reds. Colorado brought him aboard as a minor league hitting coach in 2022.
Gideon has been with the Rockies for 30 years, mostly in the minors, spending the last nine seasons on the big league staff. He had been the first base coach since the 2019 campaign. His role change means that the Rockies still have one vacancy. They will have to find a first base coach at some point before the season ramps up.
Photo courtesy of Allan Henry, Imagn Images
